Trail Of Neglect In N.J. Child Abuse Case

New Jersey child welfare officers conducted at least ten investigations of the mother of a child found dead this weekend, and twice found she had left her children for extended periods, a newspaper reports.

But the state never took action to remove the children from Melinda Williams's custody, the New York Times reports.

Williams' 7-year-old boy Faheem was found dead in a plastic storage bin and his two brothers were discovered, beaten and starving, in a locked basement room this weekend.

Police are seeking a woman who had go-go danced with Williams, Sherry L. Murphy, 41, who lived in the house where the children were found. Murphy is accused of beating and burning all three boys, who had been entrusted to her by their mother — her cousin — months earlier.

She was charged with child endangerment and could face more serious charges in the case of Faheem, whose death has been characterized by prosecutors as a homicide.

New Jersey officials focused on Newark and a nearby town as they searched Sherry Murphy. Authorities also used a cadaver dog to search Murphy's former home in Irvington, but wouldn't say if they found anything. They went there after the home's new owner reported a foul odor.

The discovery prompted Gov. James E. McGreevey to demand a report on the case from the Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS).

The state Department of Human Services, which includes DYFS, said later Monday that the agency had received 10 complaints involving the Williams family dating back to 1992; all but three of them were deemed unsubstantiated. Department Commissioner Gwendolyn Harris said "there may have been major problems in the handling of the case," and that corrective measures would be taken.

According to the Times, in one of the cases probed by DYFS, Williams told a babysitter she was running an errand and left her kids for three weeks.
Child welfare workers' most recent visit came in Oct. 2001, when they received a report the boys were being burned and beaten. They could not reach a conclusion because the children were not present.

The grisly case began to unfold Saturday, when Faheem's twin brother, Raheem, and another brother, Tyrone, 4, were found in a basement room in Murphy's two-story Newark rowhouse.

Murphy's live-in boyfriend found the surviving boys. He told police he had been living in the house for two weeks and knew nothing about the children.
One of the boys said at the hospital that his brother had been missing for weeks. That led police to Faheem's body, stuffed in a storage bin in the same basement. He had been dead for weeks, investigators said. The cause of death has not been disclosed.

The surviving boys were being treated at a hospital for starvation and dehydration. They were reported in fair condition. Newark Mayor Sharpe James said Tyrone had burns from his neck down.

Williams, the boys' mother, was in critical but stable condition in a New York City hospital Monday after being hit by a car Saturday, authorities said.

Williams told police she put the children in Murphy's care in March when she went to jail for assault. She was released in August, but she told police she could not find Murphy or the children, the mayor said.

Newark Police Director Robert Rankin Jr. said DYFS told a relative about the boys Saturday, and the relative contacted Williams in New York. She was en route to see her sons when she was struck, Rankin said.

DHS said the abused boys had an 11-year-old brother, Fuquan Williams, who was not living at the house where the boys were found. His whereabouts were unknown.

Neighbors said Murphy kept to herself and was not well known in her working-class neighborhood of two- and three-story multifamily dwellings.
Debra Barnes, 44, said she had never exchanged a greeting with Murphy since moving in two months ago and had never seen the three boys.